1:1
“The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God”. Mark sets out his purpose, and it is all about Jesus Christ. The Greek actually has “Jesus Christ”, Christ means the anointed one, or the Messiah. It is a title. The Messiah is the Son of God. God has worked out salvation by His own hand, by sending His Son. No earthly man was capable of winning salvation for us. “The beginning” could be seen as applying just to the beginning of Mark, or to the whole of Mark. In literary terms applying to just the beginning of the book could be said to make more sense, but the gospel did not stop with the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. God’s salvation has continued to work its way through all the world, and is still doing that.
1:2
While it says “as it is written in Isaiah”, we actually have two quotes here. The first part comes from Mal 3:1, and the second from Is 40:3. “I will send my messenger ahead of you” (NIV), or “before your face” (ESV, NKJV). This would seem to imply that “the beginning of the good news” is referring to the ministry of John the Baptist. John prepared the way by preaching repentance. Repentance is the key to receiving salvation, a recognition that our ways are wrong, that we are wrong and need to be rescued. Mal 3:1-4 talks of the messenger coming to the temple, and Jesus had key dealings with the temple. Moreover, the temple would be destroyed in AD 70. The passage in Malachi also speaks of God’s refining work.
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